Looking for a Gift Idea? - try a Weather Radio

Shoppers looking for holiday or birthday gift ideas are encouraged to purchase a NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards receiver unit ( "smoke alarm for severe weather") for everyone on their list. They can be purchased at many electronics and department stores or via the Internet from on-line merchants.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards provides immediate broadcasts of weather warnings and civil emergency messages, directly from the National Weather Service, to give those in harm’s way critical lead time to respond and remain safe. Such messages include winter storm watches and warnings, tornado warnings, flood warnings, chemical spill notifications, and many others.

How will you receive important severe weather and critical hazards information in the middle of the night while you sleep? NOAA Weather Radio, the voice of the National Weather Service, is the answer. It provides continuous broadcasts of the latest weather and emergency information directly from NWS offices across the state. Computer-generated messages are repeated every four to six minutes and are routinely updated. The stations operate 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

During severe weather or other emergencies, routine weather broadcasts are interrupted with special warning messages. Specially designed radios sound an alarm indicating that a weather or other hazardous emergency exists, alerting the listener to turn on the receiver. Weather radios -- "Smoke alarms for severe weather and hazardous conditions."

Weather radio receivers using specific area message encoding (SAME) technology allows listeners to screen out weather or other hazard alarms that do not apply to their area. County and marine codes for the U.S. are available here. (Note: It is recommended that mariners program their receivers with the SAME geographic codes of neighboring land and marine areas to maintain a greater level of weather awareness.)

Where to Buy Weather Radios

NOAA Weather Radio receivers can be purchased at many retail stores that sell electronic merchandise, including stand-alone electronic retail outlets, electronics departments within department stores, and some drug stores. Weather Radio receivers can also be purchased through some mail order catalogs and on the Internet.

In addition, NOAA Weather Radio receivers are often sold in boat and marine accessory businesses as they are popular in the marine community.